


ready or not (i love you)

by perihelion (mattratat)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, me with every au ever: how can i make them dance, pining sora? pining sora, royalty au except neither of them is royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 05:03:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattratat/pseuds/perihelion
Summary: A masquerade ball, sort of.





	ready or not (i love you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [end_alls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/end_alls/gifts).

> for the wonderful toppie!<3

Sora was a romantic. A shameless one at that because he really, really loved romance. He loved the allure of it. He loved the beauty of it all, the excitement of meeting a new person and falling head over heels in love with them. He loved the late nights turning into early mornings because they couldn’t just stop talking to each other, the mornings made better by waking up to their face… Not that he had much experience with that, anyways. 

The problem was, there weren't many options for romance when you spent your days in and out in the kitchen, running errands or cleaning up other peoples’ messes. There had been two people that Sora could ever remember feeling his heart race for. The first was nothing but a nightmare, a beautiful and glorious one, but one long gone. It wasn’t something he liked to dwell on. The second was… nothing but a dream, impossible thoughts and childhood nostalgia, star gazing in the middle of the night and stolen laughs in dark corridors. 

“Why won’t you consider it?” Roxas asked, sitting on the counter, kicking his legs aimlessly as Sora started to crack eggs into a bowl. “No one is going to know it’s you.” 

Sora huffed. “I  _ have _ considered it, thank you very much, which is exactly why I’m not going to do it. I still have to work, you know.”

“You know, if you asked Ven, he’d order them to give you the night off without hesitating,” Roxas pointed out. And it was true, because Ventus was a kind person and an even kinder prince. But Sora was stubborn. “Plus, Riku will be there.”

Sora glared at him over the measuring cup as he poured milk into it, measuring out just enough to make the cake creamy. “Working, probably.” 

It had been far too long since he’d gotten to spend any real time with Riku. Unlike Sora, Riku had been quickly selected for guard training after his arrival to the castle and had risen through the ranks at the speed of light, second only to the captain, Terra. Sora was happy for him, of course he was, but he really wished that their schedules wouldn’t conflict so much. He missed him. Even the sound of his stupid name made Sora want to drop everything and talk to him, even when he was nowhere to be found. 

He missed him, so when Roxas said, “He’s not. Sort of. He told me he only has to work the first half” it sounded so, so tempting.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask,” Sora said, a smile starting to tug at his lips as he met Roxas’ eyes, shrugging. “I’ll talk to Ven.” 

“Good,” Roxas nodded. “Now hand me the spoon, I wanna taste the batter.”

* * *

As it turned out, Ven was going to be away in the capital until the day of the actual ball, so Sora resigned himself to spending the night in the kitchens. He loved his job, he truly did, but as he plated appetizers and finger foods on trays for the waiters, he really just wished that he could see Riku. His conversation with Roxas had been a nice hope, but it didn’t pan out and, really, that was okay. Roxas had, of course, offered to cover kitchen duty for Sora, but he’d refused. Roxas needed the night off more than he did, Sora had insisted. He’d get to see Riku… eventually. 

The music was loud enough to come through the swinging doors of the kitchen, a cello solo coming through now. Sora felt jittery, bouncing on his heels being a sore substitute for real dancing. If he closed his eyes, he could practically imagine himself out there, dressed for the ball, swaying across the floor with a tall figure with long silver hair… 

He plated another chocolate covered strawberry and sighed deeply. 

“Now, what’s that all about?” A voice called from the kitchen entrance, causing Sora to jump a foot and a half in the air out of surprise. 

The new arrival was wearing a masquerade mask, a beautiful thing of aquamarine and silver that covered his eyes, but Sora would recognize him anywhere. A grin spread across his face, unable to mask his excitement at seeing the visitor. “Riku! What are you doing here?” 

Riku walked into the kitchen, leaning across the counter next to Sora, arms crossed against his chest as he shrugged. “I asked Roxas where you were and he told me you were working. What’s up with that? They’re that desperate?” 

Sora snorted because he knew Riku was teasing him. “Something like that. But if you keep that attitude up I’m not letting you taste test these strawberries.”

Riku had the nerve to look offended. “You wouldn’t.” 

Sora reached out, dotting the tip of Riku’s nose with melted chocolate. “I would.” 

Riku blinked under his mask, swiping the chocolate off with his finger. “You’re ridiculous.” 

“You know you love me,” Sora quipped back, already focused on the strawberries again. They needed to cool, but he had an hour or so before they needed to go out to the guests, so he wasn’t worried. 

“Yeah, I do,” Riku said, softly. Sora paused. Something about his voice, the sincerity of it, made his heart stop before it restarted with the force of thunder, beating hard enough to beat out of it his chest.

“You’re a sap,” Sora managed to stammer out. Riku didn’t mean it like he wanted him to, but that was okay. Riku was his best friend and that was more than enough. It had to be. 

Riku shrugged. “And you’re oblivious.” 

Sora sputtered. “What does that mean?” 

Riku shrugged again. It was starting to get infuriating. “Hey.” 

“Hm?” Sora answered. He couldn’t bring himself to look up and meet Riku’s eyes. Sora knew he wore his emotions on his face and he didn’t want his eyes to betray himself now. And Riku had always been so goddamn observant. 

“Dance with me,” Riku said. 

“I need to finish these,” Sora could hear himself say, but his resolve was already slipping. His limbs ached with the need to move, to dance to the music; his palms ached with the need to feel Riku’s hands in his. 

“I’ll help you finish them,” Riku answered, holding his hand out. 

Sora glanced at it, then finally looked up to meet Riku’s eyes. “You better.” 

“Promise,” Riku said. 

Sora took his hand. And then they were moving. It was a little clumsy at first, because they were both out of practice, but Sora didn’t step on Riku’s feet and Riku managed to keep from swinging him against any of the counters. It was easy, now that they were moving, for Sora to lose himself to the music, unable to worry about hiding his emotions from Riku when he was having so much fun. Riku stumbled as he tried to turn them in the small space between cabinets and Sora’s laugh echoed off the walls, Riku’s following suit as they dissolved into a mess of limbs and hands holding each other and the music sounded so far away and the only thing he could see was Riku’s eyes locked on his and Sora was so, so in love. 

And the song ended, taking their dance with it. They stood, so close Sora could feel Riku’s warm breath on his lips but their was a canyon between them. Sora opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. 

Finally, he found his voice. “Did you mean it?” 

Riku swallowed hard. “Mean what?” 

“What you said earlier… That you…” Sora’s voice trailed off, but recognition flashed in Riku’s eyes. Sora could feel his heartbeat again, so strong and so fast as nerves crept from it and into the back of his throat and he just wanted to know already- 

“I meant it,” Riku said, suddenly, his expression (from what Sora could see of it under the mask, anyways) morphing into that of a terrified animal. He was shaking, Sora realized, the palms in his having grown sweaty without him even noticing. “I… I meant it.” 

Sora’s heart was both calmed and jump started by the answer. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but… “Oh.” 

Riku started to pull away, refusing to meet Sora’s eyes. “And I know you don’t feel the same, but-”

“What?” Sora cut in, “Are you kidding?” 

Riku paused, uncertainty hanging off his frame like a second skin. “No…?”

“Of course I feel the same way, dumbass,” Sora said, staring at Riku with wide, incredulous eyes. 

It was Riku’s turn to look surprised and utter the soft, “Oh.” 

“Did you really not realize?” Sora asked, laughter bubbling in the back of his throat as he struggled to hold it back. 

“No!” was the defensive answer, and Sora couldn’t help but lose it completely. “What are you laughing about?”

“And you said… I was the oblivious one,” Sora managed to say between snorts, clutching onto Riku’s hands for dear life. 

Riku looked scandalized, which really only made it worse. “I mean- that’s- hey!” 

“I’m sorry,” Sora managed to force out, even if he kind of wasn’t. All this time… He’d been so foolish. 

“You are not,” Riku huffed, but Sora could see that he was trying so hard to keep from smiling. It wasn’t working. 

“No, not really,” Sora agreed. “I guess we were just both the oblivious one.” 

“A real pair of fools,” Riku agreed, finally letting his smile free. 

And Sora couldn’t help it as he flung himself forward, arms wrapping around his torso, crushing himself against Riku’s torso as familiar, strong arms wrapped around his shoulder. “We’re so stupid.” 

“That’s okay,” Riku said, pulling back just enough so that Sora could tilt his head up to meet his eyes. “We figured it out eventually.” 

“Hey, Riku?” 

“Hm?” 

“Can I kiss you?” Sora asked. 

Riku froze and for a moment, Sora was worried that he’d messed up, that he’d overstepped already, but then Riku was leaning down and Sora was closing his eyes instinctively and then-

The kiss was over as quickly as it began, just a short and sweet peck, really. But it held the promise of a thousand- no, a million- more, and that made it perfect. 

“Anytime you like,” Riku answered. 

Sora stood on his toes to kiss him again, just because he could now. It was a wonderful feeling and, honestly, a little overwhelming. “Don’t be surprised when I hold you to that.” 

“I’m counting on it,” Riku said. 

“Now, come on, you promised to help me finish these.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> twitter: @vanitashours
> 
> thanks for reading!! if u enjoyed please kudos and comment, they fuel the writing gremlin kjhghj
> 
> have a great day!!!


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